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Robbie Amell On Why He Was Killed Off On The Flash And The Real Explanation Behind The X-Files Finale

downloadDiana McCallum writes for Bleeding Cool

Robbie Amell is no stranger to science fiction, appearing as Firestorm on The Flash and Agent Miller in the latest revival of The X-Files. We spoke with him about whether we've seen the last of Firestorm and why he was killed off The Flash. He also explains what was up with that X-Files finale and his new project with Stephen Amell, Code 8, which he'll have more information about at Toronto ComiCon, March 18-20th.

Bleeding Cool: Being from Toronto is there any kind of added love to be doing a con in Toronto, is that something that adds a little bit of extra importance to you?

Robbie Amell: Yeah. You know it's nice, my mom's going to come out for one of the days and walk around and take a look. The other thing is, just luck of timing, I'm launching a surprise and a teaser trailer this weekend in Chicago with my cousin and then next weekend in Toronto we're showing a 40 second clip from a project called Code 8. People in Toronto are going to be the first people to see it and the first people to find out about what it is. It's something I'm really excited about, I worked on it with, almost everybody involved is Canadian and based out of Toronto. It's a project that's really special to me and we've been working on it since last year so I'm going to have some of the guys that were a part of that come out and hopefully one of the other lead actors from it may fly in from LA, which would be a huge surprise. I won't guarantee it or tell you who it is but if he does that would be pretty special too.

BC: A lot of people are wondering have we seen the last of Firestorm on The Flash? Can we expect to see a cameo, a guest appearance, anything in the future?

RA: Everybody over there is family and every time they want to have me back I will show up. I haven't had any talks about it with them yet. I think it would be tough to bring me back until they have even a Earth 3 or Earth 4 or Earth 5.

BC: Earth 7, Earth 52?

RA: Exactly. But I mean it's sci-fi so you're never really dead. Like I said, everybody there is family, I love that cast and that crew. Greg Berlanti is like an older brother to me and I would happily go back any time he wanted me to.

BC: That must have been a relief for you, seeing that script for the death of Firestorm and knowing that it's sci-fi, being like, well there was no body. No body no death, you know.

RA: Yeah, I don't really know what to tell you other than I would always happily go back but I think both of my characters are dead at this point. I think Earth 1 and Earth 2 Firestorm are toast.

BC: You got to play Earth 1 Firestorm the hero and you got to play Earth 2 Deathstorm the villain, if there were a scenario where they said we're going to bring you back again, would you want to play the hero or the villain?

RA: Oh man, I don't know. I mean, that episode was really fun to shoot with Danielle [Panabaker] and be the bad guy. But I mean, it's more fun to play the bad guy but you get to interact more with everybody else when you're on the good guy team. I don't know, it's a tough call. I think if you really gave me the option I'd probably be Team Flash.

BC: In regards to the real life timeline how close together was it finding out that we were going to see the death of Firestorm on The Flash to you getting the job with the X-Files? Were they kind of overlapping? How quickly did they occur?

RA: They were completely non-related. The Flash was always a non-contract role so it was always just whenever I was available I would come in and shoot. The reason they had to kill me was because I couldn't be a part of Legends of Tomorrow and they needed to have Firestorm be one of the lead characters so they had to kill me to introduce a new Firestorm and then Berlanti, because he's so amazing, told me they would bring me back as Earth 2 Firestorm/Deathstorm. But I actually booked X-Files right after shooting a movie in Montreal with Kevin Spacey called Nine Lives. I wrapped on a Wednesday, went home Thursday, got the audition Friday, went in Saturday, found out I got it on Monday and found out I was heading back to Vancouver so the nice thing was I got to go and hang out with some of The Flash cast and hang out a little bit.

BC: X-Files finished about two weeks ago so we can talk about the ending, what did you think when you first read the ending of the X-Files?

RA: Oh my god, I walked up to Chris Carter and I said, "You can't do that."

BC: I agree!

RA: It was insane. And they originally wanted to shoot a seventh episode but they didn't have time due to scheduling conflicts so he has the next episode ready but it just didn't work out timing wise so everybody was given this massive cliff-hanger but it was like being a part of TV history, with David [Duchovny] and Gillian [Anderson] and Chris [Carter]. It was really special. I'll never forget shooting my first scene with David and Gillian and Lauren [Ambrose] in The X-Files office, that was really special.

BC: Okay, so there's another episode ready, do you have any insights into what happened? Is Agent Miller on that spaceship right now? Do you know?

RA: I know nothing. I was never given the script. I don't know who's alive, I don't know where and why, I don't know what's going on. I know as much as everyone else.

BC: Well I hope you don't die again. You've died so many times on The Flash. So there's no word on what's going to happen with Agent Miller or a season 2 yet?

RA: No. I know that Fox wants more episodes and Chris wants to do them but it all comes down to scheduling with David and Gillian and when Chris can write them but I imagine there would probably be another season or movie in the future. It was too successful to pass.

BC: But is there a small part of you that is like "if there isn't another season, I'm in the very last scene of the X-Files, that's kind of cool".

RA: Oh yeah, that was my thought process. I was like well, if there's another season it looks like I'm part of it, but it's also the X-Files, I mean, it wouldn't be the strangest thing in the world if I wasn't there anymore they could easily find a way to get me out so hopefully, knock on wood, I am a part of it if there's another season.

BC: You played Agent Miller and he was kind of like a mini-me of Agent Mulder but in real life do you think you're more of a Mulder or a Scully?

RA: Definitely more of a Mulder.

BC: You're a conspiracy guy?

RA: Yeah. I just feel like there's so much that we don't know. How can you be so sure of something without enough proof?

BC: It sounds like you were perfect casting for Agent Miller then. You probably weren't even acting that much.

RA: It was fun. It was great getting to work with [David Duchovny] as well. My character's first name is Kyd and I was actually named after David Duchovny's real son whose name is Kyd. And I hand [David] a card in our first scene together I say "give me a call when you think of something" and he looked at the card in the scene and it said "Kyd Miller" and he throws it in his pocket. When I walked up to him to get it back after he's like, "oh no, I'm keeping this". The great thing is props was pretty sure that was going to happen so they had a bunch of cards waiting and every time I gave one to David he just pocketed it so in the end he had a bunch of Miller FBI cards.

BC: One final thing we wanted to bring up so obviously you are close with your cousin, Stephen Amell, have you given any thought of jumping in with Stephen with his WWE wrestling beef with Stardust? I think tag-team champions The Amells has a good sound to it.

RA: I would love to. I grew up a huge wrestling fan. I'm still a massive fan of The Rock. Recently when we were in Dallas and Stardust came out to Stephen's panel, he hit him in the face with a cup of water and ran off stage. I was there filming it and there was another cup of water on-stage and I decided that since he was already wet to hit him myself and then we ended up just finishing his panel together. That was so amazing to see Stephen go on Summerslam and have such an amazing event. I'm a huge fan, I would love to get involved somehow even if it was just busting a chair over Stardust's back but Stephen and I have been trying to work together for a long time and that's part of what we're doing with Code 8 which you'll find more about at the con. It's been a long process for us and it's something that we've been working on together and we're really excited to share it with everybody.

Robbie Amell will be appearing at the Toronto ComiCon March 18-20th with more information on his new project. Full audio of our interview with Robbie Amell is available below:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/talkfromsuperheroes/TFSH_BonusEpisode_Robbie_Amell_-_2016-03-10_3.37_PM.mp3]

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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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